True West a play by Sam Shepard CHARACTERS Austin: Early thirties, light blue sports shirt, light tan cardigan sweater, clean blue jeans, white tennis shoes Lee: His older brother, early forties, filthy white t-shirt, tattered brown overcoat covered with dust, dark blue baggy suit pants from the Salvation Army, pink suede belt, pointed black forties dress shoes scuffed up, holes in the soles, no socks, no hat, long pronounced sideburns, "Gene Vincent" hairdo, 2 days' growth of beard, bad teeth Saul Kimmer: Late forties, Hollywood producer, pink and white flower print sports shirt, white sports coat with matching polyester slacks, black and white loafers Mom: Early sixties, mother of the brothers, small woman, conservative white skirt and matching jacket, red shoulder bag, two pieces of match red luggage SETTING Kitchen and alcove in a house in a Southern Californian suburb, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles ACT I SCENE I: night, sound of crickets in dark, candlelight appears in alcove illuminating Austin seated at glass table hunched over a writing notebook, pen in hand, cigarette burning in ashtray, cup of coffee, typewriter on table, stacks of paper, candle burning on table, soft moonlight fills kitchen illuminating LEE, beer in hand, six pack on counter behind him, he's leaning against sink, mildly drunk, takes slug of beer LEE So, Mom took off for Alaska huh? AUSTIN Yeah LEE Sorta' left you in charge. AUSTIN Well, she knew I was coming down here so she offered me the place. LEE You keepin' the plants watered? AUSTIN Yeah. LEE Keepin' the sink clean? She don't like even a single tea leaf in the sink ya' know. AUSTIN (Trying to concentrate on writing) Yeah, I know. (Pause) LEE She gonna' be up there a long time? AUSTIN I don't know. LEE Kinda' nice for you, huh? Whole place to yourself. AUSTIN Yeah, it's great. LEE Ya' got crickets anyway. Tons a' crickets out there. (Looks around kitchen) Ya' got groceries? Coffee? A (Looking up from writing) What? L You got coffee? A Yeah. L At's good. (short pause) Real coffee? From the bean? A Yeah. You want some? L Naw. I brought some uh - (motions to beer) A Help yourself to whatever's - (motions to refrigerator) L I will. Don't worry about me. I'm not the one to worry about. I mean I can uh - (pause) You always work by candlelight? A No - un - Not always. L Just sometimes? A (puts pen down, rubs his eyes) Yeah. Sometimes it's soothing. L Isn't that what the old guys did? A What old guys? L The Forefathers. You know. A Forefathers? L Isn't that what they did? Candlelight burning into the night? Cabins in the wilderness. A (rubs hand through his hair) I suppose. L I'm not botherin' you, am I? I mean I don't wanna break into yer uh - concentration or nothin'. A No, it's all right. L That's good. I mean I realize that yer line a' work demands a lota' concentration. A It's okay. L You probably think that I'm not fully able to comprehend somethin' like that, huh? A Like what? L That stuff yer doin'. That art. You know. Whatever you call it. A It's just a little research. L You may not know it but I did a little art myself once. A You did? L Yeah! I did some a' that. I fooled around with it. No future in it. A What'd you do? L Never mind what I did! Just never mind about that. (pause) It was ahead of its time. (pause) A So, you went out to see the old man, huh? L Yeah, I seen him. A How's he doing? L Same. He's doin' just about the same. A I was down there too, you know. L What d'ya' want, an award? You want some kinda' medal? You were down there. He told me all about you. A What'd he say? L He told me. Don't worry. (pause) A Well - L You don't have to say nothin'. A I wasn't. L Yeah, you were gonna make somethin' up. Somethin' brilliant. (pause) A You going to be down here very long, Lee? L Might be. Depends on a few things. A You got some friends down here? L (laughs) I know a few people. Yeah. A Well, you can stay here as long as I'm here. L I don't need your permission do I? A No. L I mean she's my mother too, right? A Right. L She might've just as easily asked me to take care of her place as you. A That's right. L I mean I know how to water plants. (long pause) A So you don't know how long you'll be staying then? L Depends mostly on houses, ya' know. A Houses? L Yeah. Houses. Electric devices. Stuff like that. I gotta' make a little tour first. (short pause) A Lee, why don't you just try another neighborhood, all right? L (laughs) What'sa' matter with this neighborhood? This is a great neighborhood. Lush. Good class a' people. Not many dogs. A Well, our uh - Our mother just happens to live here. That's all. L Nobody's gonna' know. All they know is somethin's missing. That's all. She'll never even hear about it. Nobody's gonna' know. A You're going to get picked up if you start walking around here at night. L Me? I'm gonna' git picked up? What about you? You stick out like a sore thumb. Look at you. You think yer regular lookin'? A I've got too much to deal with here to be worrying about - L Yer not gonna' have to worry about me! I've been doin' all right without you. I haven't been anywhere near you for five years! Now isn't that true? A Yeah. L So you don't have to worry about me. I'm a free agent. A All right. L Now all I wanna' do is borrow yer car. A No! L Just fer a day. One day. A No! L I won't take it outside a twenty mile radius. I promise ya'. You can check the speedometer. A You're not borrowing my car! That's all there is to it. (pause) L Then I'll just take the damn thing. A Lee, look - I don't want any trouble, all right? L That's a dumb line. That is a dumb fuckin' line. You git paid fer dreamin' up a line like that? A Look, I can give you some money if you need money. (LEE suddenly lunges at AUSTIN, grabs him violenty by the shirt and shakes him with tremendous power) L Don't you say that to me! Don't you ever say that to me! (Just as suddenly he turns him loose, pushes him away and backs off) You may be able to git away with the Old Man. Git him tanked up for a week! Buy him off with yer Hollywood blood money, but not me! I can git my own money my own way. Big money! A I was just making an offer. L Yeah, well keep it to yourself! (long pause) Those are the most monotonous fuckin' crickets I ever heard in my life. A I kinda' like the sound. L Yeah. Supposed to be able to tell the temperature by the number a' pulses. You believe that? A The temperature? L Yeah. The air. How hot it is. A How do you do that? L I don't know. Some woman told me that. She was a Botanist. So I believed her. A Where'd you meet her? L What? A The woman Botanist? L I met her on the desert. I been spendin' a lota' time on the desert. A What were you doing out there? L (pause, stars in space) I forgit. Had me a Pit Bull there for a while but I lost him. A Pit Bull? L Fightin' dog. Damn I made some good money off that little dog. Real good money. (pause) A You could come up north with me, you know. L What's up there? A My family. L Oh, that's right, you got the wife and kiddies now don't ya'. The house, the car, the whole slam. That's right. A You could spend a couple days. See how you like it I've got an extra room. L Too cold up there. (pause) A You want to sleep for a while? L (pause, stares at AUSTIN) I don't sleep. (LIGHTS TO BLACK) End Scene 1